Science Education Adaptations for Non-Textbook Instruction to Students With Learning and Other Disabilities: A Chronological Literature Review

Special education is a challenging area of education, as traditional instruction strategies need to be appropriately adjusted to match the individuals’ needs resulting from various types of learning and other disabilities (LD). Among a range of subjects, the paper focuses on science education for LD students and it elaborates on two groups of adaptations frequently discussed in the literature, which involve materials alternative to textbook. We have carried out a literature review by using a pool of review articles from the “Bibliography Observatory” database developed by the University of Thessaly, Greece. We herein present the sum of the research activity primarily from the past decades (post 1980s), pertaining to technology assisted adaptations and hands-on activities/laboratory instruction. This analysis has shown that there is an increasing research interest in such adaptations both chronologically and most importantly provides evidence of the advantages these adaptations offer to LD students.